{"id":15195,"date":"2009-07-13T10:57:49","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T16:57:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=15195"},"modified":"2009-07-13T10:57:56","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T16:57:56","slug":"stewardship-of-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/13\/stewardship-of-creation.html","title":{"rendered":"Stewardship of Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an ideal world, “animal rescue” would be something done by Superman regarding a cat being stuck in a tree.<\/p>\n

In our real world, “animal rescue” means saving animals from neglect, abandonment, and mistreatment.<\/p>\n

As a confirmed carnivore, I’m not to going to address consumption of animals for food, except to say that those animals should be well-treated on their path to my dinner table.<\/p>\n

I’m going to talk instead about animals that have been bred — as breeds and as individuals — to be cared for by humans. Animals that are abused. Animals that are abandoned (“Fluffy will do fine on her own — or maybe someone will find her and give her a good home”). Animals that are neglected. Greyhounds that are disposed of after their racing days are over. Rabbits that are gotten rid of when Little Billy decides that the “Easter present” isn’t any fun. Dogs bred in puppy mills, inbred or poorly cared for. Pet buyers who want the latest thing, but don’t think about how it will change their lives — and who then decide not to change said lives and get rid of the pet instead …<\/p>\n

Unconscionable. We have a responsibility<\/em>, dammit, to these critters. A basic ethical, moral, and even religious obligation <\/em>to care for what we’ve wrought, to not treat these lives as mere ornaments to be discarded if broken or inconvenient. We need to (hu)man up and live up to what we’ve committed ourselves to, as individuals and as a species.<\/p>\n

I’m not going PETA-crazy here. Given a choice between saving a kid falling off a cliff and saving the kid’s dog, it’s “So long, Rover.” But while there’s a lot we need to do to protect and nurture and feed and clothe humans, while we do so we have things we need to be doing for the animals entrusted to us.<\/p>\n

That’s a big reason why I’m blogging in the Blogathon 2009<\/a> for the Denver Dumb Friends League<\/a>, which takes in all sorts of abandoned pet animals, cares for them as it can, and tries mightily to get them adopted. They also have a very active spay\/neuter program for dogs and cats, to reduce abandoned animals before they become abandoned. It’s a good cause, and I hope you’ll sponsor me<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an ideal world, “animal rescue” would be something done by Superman regarding a cat being stuck in a tree. In our real world, “animal rescue” means saving animals from neglect, abandonment, and mistreatment. As a confirmed carnivore, I’m not to going to address consumption of animals for food, except to say that those animals … Continue reading “Stewardship of Creation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,34,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogathon","category-pets","category-religion-me"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15243,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/19\/the-last-shelter.html","url_meta":{"origin":15195,"position":0},"title":"The Last Shelter","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 19-Jul-09 1:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A lot of animals are brought through the Denver Dumb Friends League's door. In their 2008 annual report, the DFL shows that 12,000 cats, 14,000 dogs, and 2,000 other animals were received. Of that 28,000 animals, about 16,500 were adopted. Another 3,000 (mostly dogs)\u00a0were reunited with their owners, who had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"blogathon2009-mdm","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/blogathon2009-mdm.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1755,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/05\/03\/blood_on_their.html","url_meta":{"origin":15195,"position":1},"title":"Blood on their hands","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 3-May-02 7:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"An animal science professor has put forward a convincing case that a vegetarian diet kills animals, too. Nobody's hands are free from the blood of other animals, not even vegetarians,...","rel":"","context":"In "Science & Nature"","block_context":{"text":"Science & Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29060,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/06\/managing-managed-animal-populations.html","url_meta":{"origin":15195,"position":2},"title":"Managing managed animal populations","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 6-Aug-12 10:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"Zoos have a problem, as they try to manage genetic diversity and breeding populations of their animals. \u00a0Do they use contraceptives to regulate reproduction (with possible medical side effects, as well as removing raising young from their animals' experiences), or do they let the animals breed and then euthanize excess\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15155,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/09\/blogathon-2009-blogging-for-the-denver-dumb-friends-league.html","url_meta":{"origin":15195,"position":3},"title":"Blogathon 2009 – Blogging for the Denver Dumb Friends League","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 9-Jul-09 6:45am","format":false,"excerpt":"The Denver Dumb Friends League was founded in 1910, and is the largest animal shelter and animal welfare organization in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region. Its mission is simple: The\u00a0DFL is committed to the welfare of animals: We shall provide shelter and care for animals We shall provide programs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/dumb-friends-league.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4843,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/22\/fur_flying.html","url_meta":{"origin":15195,"position":4},"title":"Fur flying","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 22-Dec-03 10:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"I believe that animals should be treated as humanely as possible. I acknowledge that there are aspects to the meat industry, and the fur industry, and the animal products industry,...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":131969,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/08\/words-for-things-animals-do.html","url_meta":{"origin":15195,"position":5},"title":"Words for things animals do","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 8-Nov-16 6:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"A bit of animal behavior linguistics for your Tuesday morning. 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